Ebony Maw: On the Brink of Death
by Decimacus
Summary: After Ebony Maw is jettisoned into space from his own ship by Iron Man, his fate seems sealed, but can he survive, and regroup with Thanos?


In all his years of service, Ebony Maw had been an indispensable servant to the Great Titan, and he was not about to let some pretender with a few parlor tricks destroy that prestige.

At the moment, Maw's ship was soaring through the galaxy, on a course for Titan, his master's home-world, and he had the infernal magician captive. The Time Stone, integral to the noble Thanos's quest to save the universe, was there as well, but contained within his necklace, trapped behind a spell. If only he could make this human understand the greater importance of all this, that Thanos would actually save Earth and countless other worlds in the process, and do it all quickly, mercifully, and painlessly, then maybe he would hand it over. Humans were so disappointing with their short-term thinking.

So, he set the ship on auto-pilot, and went over to the human, whose name Maw had discerned was Strange, though that didn't matter to him. He grabbed the tools Thanos had retrieved from Maw's planet when he'd saved it from extinction, and bestowed the honor of being his herald, and helping him on his mission, upon Maw. Using his in-born telekinetic abilities, he lifted Strange's body into the air, and put the needles toward his face. Strange woke up, and took in his surroundings.

"In all the time I've served Thanos," he said, approaching Strange, eye to eye, "I have never failed him. If I were to reach our rendezvous on Titan with the Time Stone still attached to your vaguely irritating person, there would be...judgment." He began to inch the needles toward Strange, with one entering his left cheek. The pain became immediately apparent, but Strange resisted. "Give me the stone." He moved other needles toward the necklace which housed it, and a spell arose to protect it.

Strange continued to push back against Maw's torture, but it soon became excruciating. "Ahhh," he screamed in agony. Maw smiled to himself, knowing that in short order, the stone would be his.

"Painful, aren't they?" he asked. "They were originally designed for microsurgery. And any one of them—" a thud interrupted his speech, and Maw's slight suspicion that they weren't alone was confirmed. "—could end your friend's life in an instant," he addressed to the intruder, as he turned around. Standing there was the man from Earth who had derisively called Maw "Squidward," whatever that referred to.

"I gotta tell you, he's not really my friend. Saving his life is more of a professional courtesy." He was in his full metal exoskeleton, and possessed the misconception that this armor would save him from Maw. Little did he know.

Maw summoned a large hunk of metal, and held it next to him. "You've saved nothing," he retorted, marching toward the red-suited man and summoning another piece with his other hand. "Your powers are inconsequential compared to mine." Now, Maw could properly finish him off, then return to his work with Strange.

"Yeah, but the kid's seen more movies," the guy said. Maw didn't know what a movie was, but he recognized the sound of a tiny missile escaping from the man's suit. It shot its way to Maw's right, and in a split second blew a hole in the ship, which sucked Maw toward it. He didn't have time to react.

Once he got over his initial shock, he realized he was beginning to freeze. The punishing vacuum of space began to take its toll immediately, and Maw passed out.

* * *

He landed with a thud, but didn't feel it, his nerves still numb. He lay there for a couple hours, half-awake, attempting to regain his strength. Eventually, he was able to stand, and surveyed his surroundings. He was in the middle of a trash heap, one that reminded him of his home planet. He had grown up in one of the slums on the outskirts of his city, where trash would be dumped, and left to rot. No one cared for those who lived there, and Maw grew to resent it. He displayed a particular aptitude from a young age for telekinesis, a trait which was typically associated with the upper class, and which Maw took as a sign of his greatness.

One day, when he was still quite young, he was out practicing his gift when he looked up in the sky and saw a large being descend from the sky. It had a head, and floated in place. In time, he would learn that it was called a Leviathan, part of the larger Chitauri army. That day, the army touched down on his planet, and killed half his people. The leader of the army ended up on the outskirts of the city, in the trash heap, looking upon the undeserving poor, before he killed half of them. He saw the young Maw, and approached him, squatting down next to him. He explained his mission and expressed admiration for Maw's abilities, and shortly thereafter took Maw back in his ship, and told him that Maw was now his child, something Thanos had never had before. Maw would come to be Thanos's most intelligent, trusted, and dependable servant. He'd earned the name Thanos bestowed upon him: Ebony Maw.

As he continued to gain his bearings, he felt something hit him on the side of his neck; he turned around and saw a male figure standing next to him, holding a gun. He forced it out of his hands, but before he could do anymore, the stranger pulled out a small device and pressed the button. An agonizing shock jumped around Maw's body, and he fell to the ground; as he was still tired from his journey, he passed out again. The man came over, and dragged Maw, who was of a comparable size, to a ship, and from there transported them back to his base, where this particular specimen, who was definitely a fighter, could help out in the revolution.

* * *

He awoke strapped to a chair, and disoriented; to his left were pieces of broken glass, and he saw his reflection: he'd lost all of his hair, and dressed in a gaudy soldier's uniform, rather than the dignified clothing he'd been wearing since the attack on the Asgardian refugee vessel.

Two men entered the room, and as he tried to telekinetically grab the device which activated his torture last time, the other man pulled an identical device out and activated the buzzer, causing Maw to drop the device, and the other man to pick it up.

"Yer right, 'e is a fighter," the first one said. He wore a red hat, which he seemed to think made him dignified.

"Yeah, 'course he is. You seen him move stuff with his mind, too." This other one, who'd retrieved Maw, wore a mask which obscured his entire head.

"Where am I? What's going on? Why did you shave my head?" Maw asked.

Red Hat answered: "You're on Sakaar now. You see, we's fighting a revolution 'gainst 'r tyrant, the Grandmaster, and we need all the help we kin get. You move stuff wit' your mind. You be a big help. We shaved yer head 'cuz you belong to us now, ye in 'r group. We all shave 'r heads. Once we kin trust ye, we'll remove the shocker."

Maw tried to use his powers to overpower them, but they used the buzzer again. He felt weak.

"All right, come 'ere," Mask said, going to grab him, but as he did so, he faded into dust, as did Red Hat, both dropping the devices. Maw stayed there momentarily, stunned. Then he remembered: the stones. Thanos had enacted his plan, and succeeded. Maw smiled, and wanted to cheer, but couldn't. There were bound to be others around who would hear him. Instead, he summoned one of the devices, deactivated the buzzer, and worked his way out of the chair. Now, he needed to get back to the _Sanctuary II_, where he could regroup and figure out where his siblings, and Thanos, went.

He stepped out of the room, and found that he was back outside. He saw one ship crash in the distance, and knew that he had to figure out where he could get a ship, and how he could get out of this planet. There was someone passing by, and Maw grabbed the person.

"Where is there a ship that can perform jumps?" he asked.

The person was still in shock, but replied: "Um...probably the Grandmaster's garage."

"How do I get there?"

"It's the big building in the distance." The person pointed in the direction of the city center, where there was a large building, standing out among the others.

"Where is the nearest transport?" Maw asked.

"There's…" the person was still in shock from the Decimation, "there's a ship in the nearby depot."

"Thank you," Maw said, floating the person up and throwing them in a different direction from the depot.

* * *

The resistance had several functioning vehicles, and Maw found it easy to steal one of them, as they were now unguarded. It handled a lot differently from the Q-ship, but thankfully, Maw wouldn't have to deal with it for very long.

He flew the ship toward the tower, having figured out approximately where the hanger was, and was able to land right into it. It seems the Grandmaster had left it open. Most of the ships were gone, save for a green one. Could it do a jump, though? He'd have to find out.

It was clearly meant as a luxury vessel, but was one that could also transport people across great galactic distances. It wouldn't require too much effort to operate, either.

Maw crammed himself into the seat, started up the console, and the vessel came to life.

"Yes!" Maw exclaimed. He guided the vessel out of the hanger, and into the Sakaaran sky. It was a very well-designed vehicle; if only he'd looked through the Grandmaster's database, and seen that the jump drive was missing a key component.

Once the ship came out of the Sakaaran atmosphere, and was in outer space, Maw activated the jump drive. He knew where the _Sanctuary II_ was located, and soon, he would be able to rendezvous with Thanos. It would be nice to see his siblings again, though he was sure Cull Obsidian would have some problems with Maw abandoning him on Earth, but he could work it out. The Time Stone was the most valuable thing, and if it meant leaving Obsidian behind to get it to Thanos, that's what it meant. After all, Proxima and Corvus were also on Earth, and Cull would know to regroup with them. They could get him back there.

He entered the coordinates, and once they were confirmed, hit the throttle, sat back, and watched as the ship began jumping. He allowed himself one more smile, and decided to think about what he would do now.

A half-hour into his journey, as he was still thinking about other things, he saw a planet appear on his radar, and before he could stop, the ship was barreling toward the planet at ludicrous speed. It was a second or two before he'd hit the ground. He put the full weight of his telekinesis in front of him, to soften the blow, out of instinct.

* * *

Maw crawled out of the burning wreckage. He had a massive wound on the top of his head, but he didn't know this yet, and his vocal cords had been damaged. He limped away from the ship, and saw, in front of him, a temple, one which, he would come to find out, had been abandoned long ago. He settled inside, and rested. Outside, he heard the ship explode for a final time.

No transportation, no way off the planet, no way of contacting Thanos. Maw was in dire straits, but he was never a quitter. He soon began to realize that, inside of himself, he possessed a telepathic link with his surroundings; through this, he learned what was and wasn't edible. He came to thrive on this planet, and began to grow stronger in his abilities.

* * *

Years later, Maw, who had come to realize he was in a different galaxy than his own, perhaps in a different time or even dimension, had grown into a powerful being, and had even learned how to transport his consciousness beyond the planet. One day, he came into contact with a vessel, one which was leading a party of vessels seeking sanctuary on some faraway place. Maw, who had by now honed his ability enough to project an image of himself to the ship, appeared before the commander, and explained the situation.

"I am a being who desires to help you, commander. I sense that your people are in need of safety, and are fleeing a great conflict."

"The conflict's over. We lost. But we will never come under the enemy's rule; our empire shall live forever."

"Come to this planet, and you will find your sanctuary," Maw said. "I promise, your empire shall rise once more. From the ashes of your failure, we will together build a better world, one where we have total control."

"How do we get there?" the commander asked.

"I will guide you through the treacherous space you must cross." Maw fulfilled his promise, guiding the ships to his planet.

* * *

Maw was there to greet the ships once they landed. The commander approached him, with many from his ship following behind. "Hello; I am afraid we still do not know your name, sir. We would like to thank you for your hospitality." Maw was sure he would. He summoned the man's blaster and fired it at him, killing him instantly.

"Greetings, travelers," Maw said, as he began to walk amongst the crowd. "I apologize for what seems to be my rudeness, but your commander was weak. If he were representative of your empire, it is no wonder you lost. It is time you came under proper leadership. I promise you that we will rebuild your empire from the ground-up, take it back to its former glory, and restore order and balance to your galaxy, as I once did mine. It will emblematic of a new, supreme order, and you all exemplary constituents." He levitated himself above the crowd. "I will be your guide to this new world, and together, we will rule the galaxy." He waited, to let his words sink in.

One brave soldier spoke up, after many moments of silence. "I beg your pardon, sir, but we never received your name."

Maw smiled. He'd waited for this day for years, but had been especially anticipating it since he became aware of this rump-state convoy. He had long ago tossed aside the title Thanos had given him, and embraced his old name with new vigor, deciding he would make it more respected, more feared, more powerful in this universe than Thanos was in his own.

"Thank you for asking, soldier," he said. "My name is Snoke."


End file.
